It appears that the dark finish of the gas cylinder on Sergeant Camplair's M1 has worn off, exposing the stainless steel (can't tell for sure though). If so, it's odd that it would wear off so early in the conflict. Shiny bits on oneself is not a good thing in combat.

He'd also better be careful in cleaning the bore so as not to damage the muzzle, as he might at the angle shown. The cleaning rod has to be in direct line with the bore.

On a side note, it's great to see that fellow Shorpyites own M1s as well. Now if M2 ball ammo was readily available again...

Gen Patton called it the greatest combat weapon ever invented.

I have one I bought from the CMP.

Ping!

U.S. ‘Rifle, .30 Caliber, M1’ AKA: M1 Garand, a .30-06 caliber, gas operated, magazine fed, semiautomatic rifle once described by General George S. Patton as "the greatest battle implement ever devised”.

When the USA entered World War 2, mass production of the M1 rifle began at the Springfield armory and at the Winchester plant. During the war, both companies produced between them approximately 4 million M1 rifles, making them the most widely used semi-automatic rifle of World War 2.

M1 Garand "stripping" for cleaning and inspection here.

It has all the earmarks of a WW2 M1 Garand. I remember stripping them down followed by the reassembly process from ROTC training in 1963. It is definitely an M1 receiver by his left knee on the edge of the bunk.

It is an M1 Garand. An unmistakable profile. The M1 replaced the bolt-action M1903 Springfield as the U.S. service rifle in 1936 and was itself replaced by the selective-fire M14 rifle on March 26, 1958.

The rifle is actually an M1 Garand semi-automatic. Shoots 30/06 ammo out of 8 round clips.

For missing link - that is not a WWI surplus rifle. It is an M1 Garand. It is in .30-06. I've cleaned many of them.

The rifle is an M1 Garand, in 30.06, semiauto, fed by a 8 round clip.

The fact that these new front line rifles were being issued stateside as early as 1942, rather than being reserved solely for the overseas theaters, shows the power of US industry.

Eschewing his sleigh, Santa parachuted into Vietnam so as not to grab unwanted attention. Sgt Camplair's radio attachment is, however, somewhat familiar.

Looks like a WW1 surplus 30.06 rifle?

Click image for more information than you wanted:

Of the large magnet, also sitting on the radiator? I hope the answer has something to do with attracting attractive women.

J W Wright, thanks for the answer and the link. So, the Zenith Radio Wavemagnet is today what we call an antenna? I wasn't even for sure it was attached to the radio.

I'll bet that's a warm bed to sleep in with that radiator right there.

appears to be tuned to 1090 kilocycles, WBAL in Baltimore, which at 50kw power would have come in well in greater Washington.

(And I'm sure someone out there knows what station it's tuned to.)

[It's a girl! Hugging a pillow! - Dave]

It won't be his mom complaining about oily patches on the bed, as might have happened to this young man https://www.shorpy.com/node/24096.

Seems he has the warmest spot during winter months.

... this is my gun." The immortal scene from Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket."

Hopefully the Sgt. made it home safely and had a good, long life.